Revenue Journal®

I am currently working with a couple of clients whose sales are being affected by current economic events. One client is in the luxury travel business and another is in the recreational boating business.

In the former situation, high gas prices, higher food prices, and the fall of the dollar against the Euro are causing their customers to pull back on their buying decisions. In the latter situation, high gas prices and a concern about the economy are causing their customers to put off their next recreational boat purchase.

Of course, they're not the only ones feeling the pinch right now. If you are too, here's a recessionary rallying cry for you:

If you want more sales, get serious.

Serious about what?

All those things you didn't think were important when sales were good. All those things you thought were "good enough." All those things that happen "after the sale," and so didn't matter as much to you as things that prevented sales from occurring. All those things that, truth be told, your customers were watching, like a hawk.

When you did the right thing, they told others what you did, and recommended to others that they buy from you. They even went out of their way to tell others (more on that in a minute).

Similarly, when you did the wrong thing, they told others what you did, and warned others to stay away from you, with vehemence. They looked for every opportunity to tell others to avoid you.

When the rivers of revenue are full and flowing, it feels like these things don't matter (even though they do). When your river starts to shrink and slow, these things can become company killers.

Here are two examples.

Doing it right: I mention Amazon a lot in this space, but that's because they continue to impress me. For example, I recently bought a folding Plantronics headset from Amazon, to use with my laptop and Skype. One of the reasons I chose that particular headset was because it came with a USB dongle that accepted the mic and earphone cords. I wanted to see what effect the USB plug would have on voice quality, if any.

The headset arrived quickly, as Amazon orders always do. I opened it up, took everything out of the package, plugged the mic and earphone cords into my laptop, and tested. Then I looked for the USB dongle, which - according to the Amazon description and the info on the box - was included inside the box. It simply wasn't there.

So I sent an email to Amazon via their webform - which, remember, for most companies means you WON'T get an answer at all, much less a quick one - and explained that the USB dongle (which isn't sold separately) wasn't in the box.

What happened? The very next day, I got a package from Amazon. It contained the same Plantronics headset I ordered. The invoice amount was "$0.00." This time, the box included a USB dongle.

What am I doing as a result? Well, for one, I just told all of you about this. I am also planning on going back to the Amazon site and complimenting Amazon for the incredible, no-BS approach to customer service.

Doing it wrong: A friend of mine, Harry Newton, the author of Newton's Telecom Dictionary, writes a blog called InSearchOfThePerfectInvestment.com. One of his investments has caused him so much grief that he created a separate blog called AuctionRatePreferreds.org. What's happening with Auction Rate Preferreds (ARPs) is that investors are being told their investments are "frozen." They can get statements, but they can't get their money out.

Harry is leading the charge to put heat on the organizations that are holding these investments. One in particular is making him boil: Nuveen. Harry is considering using his own money to write and place a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal. He is composing the copy on his blog. This is what he's saying so far:

-- draft Wall Street Journal advertisement--

Why You Should Never
EVER Do Business With Nuveen

Number 1 reason: They lie to their customers.

Number 2 reason: They are ruining their customers' finances by forcing many to lose deposits on homes they can't close on, to not finance their business's cash needs and, for some, to declare bankruptcy.

Number 3 reason: There is no reason why Nuveen customers should make lawyers even more rich by forcing us customers to sue Nuveen.

There's a lot more on this subject in Harry's blog; my point here is to simply point out two things: 1) If your customers are affected by ARP illiquidity, your sales will be affected and 2) note how easy it was for Harry to make his grief public, and to even serve as a lightning rod for others experiencing the same grief.

Harry had been covering the ARP problem in his InSearchOfThePerfectInvestment site, but the subject began to dominate; so he simply bought the domain name AuctionRatePreferreds.org for about $10, and started publishing diatribes about ARPs and the organizations selling them - and asking others to email him with their own stories.

We are living in an age where a negative story can circle the globe in seconds, via something as easily posted as a blog comment or a YouTube video. This is not the time to be hostile, callous, or even lax as you interact with customers. This is not the time to do business as usual.

This is the time to get serious. About what? Your "resolution time."
Or, if you would like an acronym, your Time to Resolution or TTR.

Every time a potential customer asks a question, every time a current customer has a problem, every time someone in the company is trying to answer that question or solve that problem, you are faced with an issue that needs resolution. It's not enough to simply "respond."

Amazon could have sent me an automated email saying, "Thanks for the email, we'll get back to you." But they didn't do that. What they did was send an email the very same day I sent my email to them (how many companies do that?). The email, written by a real human being, said:

I'm very sorry to hear that one of the items in your set was missing a USB sound card when it arrived. We'll replace this item at no cost to you. However, we're unable to send individual items from a set. We'll send you a replacement order for the entire set.

I've placed a new order for the item at no charge. Here are the details of the order...etc.

Every detail of this email is perfect. The sender is Amazon.com Customer Service. The subject line is Your Amazon Order #...etc. At the end of the email, there's this:

Please let us know if this email resolved your question.
If yes, click here: [link]
If not, click here: [link]

The copy in the entire email is short and to the point, obviously based on a template - one designed for situations where an item is missing from a "set."

I'm sure, knowing Amazon, that the customer service rep was able to pick this template from a list of templates, type a couple of words in, and hit "send." I would bet that the details of the order, and the sig for the email were automatically inserted after the rep hit "send," probably using the Order Number data in the subject line. Or, the rep was able to select the data from another database and it was automatically inserted. The point is, I'm sure the rep didn't have to type the order number.

This is serious customer service. This is resolution. This is why I am an Amazon "prime" customer, happy to pay $79 a year to get free shipping on other items. This is why, whenever I need to buy something, I always check Amazon first to see if they carry it. And yes, I always look at the customer reviews, which are almost always incredibly helpful.

How is your Time to Resolution?

When business is good, it's easy to slip into your comfort zone, and let certain things slide. It's not smart, but it's easy - and you won't suffer as much for it as you will when money gets tight.

For example, let's say that the person you've put in charge of customer service is a bit laid back. There's no fire in his belly. He doesn't obsess over resolution. Most of the time, he coasts. Yes, he gets work done, and when the CEO calls him on the carpet about something, he will grudgingly get it resolved. But mostly he just keeps plodding along, while the army of unhappy customers (and the salespeople who must apologize to those unhappy customers) continues to grow.

This situation deteriorates until it becomes the company's Achilles heel, just waiting for someone like Harry Newton to blow the lid off the company's lax customer service. On that day, the company's competitors will be gleefully rubbing their hands, chortling. They will drive their own weapons into the open wound. Their salespeople will say, "Oh, yes, but you don't want to buy from them. They have a terrible reputation for customer service." Customers who had a bad experience will discover they're not alone, and will increasingly tell others, "We had problems, and apparently others have as well. I'd stay away from them."

Think about your business in terms of your Time to Resolution. First, define resolution. What are the problems that must be resolved, and what are the ways you can resolve them? From the customer's perspective, what kind of resolution speed are they expecting? How can you set up systems, processes, and tools so you resolve the problem in the ways and in timeframes that completely satisfy your customers?

This analysis requires flowcharting, showing the steps to resolution. Perhaps your customer service people have to get info from someone else before they can answer the question. If that is a the reality, fine. But don't keep the customer waiting while you get the answer. Instead, respond immediately to the customer's complaint. Make it clear that you understand the customer's problem and tell the customer exactly what you are going to do.

Promise the customer that you will get back to them in X amount of time, and then do it - whether you have an answer or not. As long as the customer knows you are working on the problem, and you keep them in the loop, the customer will be reasonably patient. "That's one less thing to worry about," the customer will think. And your salespeople won't have to keep apologizing, which only saps their selling energy and robs them of precious selling time.

Make Time to Resolution a priority. Design business processes to meet - or exceed - customer expectations.

This is what I mean when I say, "Get serious." Sales slide in recessions because managers let their companies slide when things are good.

When things get tough, they get desperate, and try to solve the problem by selling more aggressively. But that's like putting lipstick on a pig. It makes you feel like you've done something, but the pig still stinks.